Ginger Cookies

I must apologize for the lack of recipes this month. I spent the holidays in France with my family which was as a great, relaxing break. Cooking, however, is not something that I find myself taking much of a break from, but it was harder to document it, without the time or equipment. I've come back to Montreal full of ideas, and ready to try out some new things.. so be prepared for a few France-inspired recipes in the months to come!

Every time I'm able to go back home, I am reminded of just how much France has shaped my love of food. The cured meats, the cheeses, the salts, the olives oils are all the wonderful beginnings to the perfect meal... and when the start product is so good, it's hard to be disappointed with the end result.

This recipe was inspired by a new cookbook I got that's all about ginger. Ginger is one of those strong and pungent flavors that can really add something special to a recipe. It's a great staple of any stir-fry of course, but also works wonders with desserts. After reading about ginger, I had to get into the kitchen.. so here is the start of my ginger adventure. I tested recipes and came up with my own version of simple, cakey ginger cookies.

Ginger Cookies
Recipe (makes 25-30 cookies)
1 stick of unsalted butter
3/4 cup of brown sugar
1/4 cup of molasses
2 tsp of fresh grated ginger
1 egg
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1/2 tsp of cinnamon
1 1/4 tsp of baking soda
1 1/2 cup of flour
1/4 cup of diced crystallized ginger
2 tbs of granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 325 F. In a bowl, combine the softened butter and brown sugar. Using a hand mixer, beat the mixture until light and fluffy (2 minutes). Add the molasses, fresh ginger, and vanilla and beat until just combined. Add the egg and beat until just combined.

In a separate bowl, add the flour, cinnamon and baking soda and mix. Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter and sugar mixture, lightly beating until the mixture is homogeneous. Fold in the crystallized ginger. Form the dough into a disc, cover with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Once the dough has chilled, form 1 inch balls, roll them in sugar and set on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 12 minutes. Leave to cook on a cooling rack. Enjoy!

Milan Cookies

The July Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of Food Network.

To be perfectly honest, this month's daring bakers challenge wasn't really a success for me. I didn't love the batter recipe for the cookies - they turned out kind of elastic-y, and something about the whole texture was just off. It's always a sad moment when you take the time to get your ingredients, pipe batter, sandwich cookies and the end result doesn't seem to add up to the effort. The only remedy is to get in the kitchen again as soon as possible and bake again to start fresh!

Red Berry and Basil Granita

This summer, it's all about berries! I managed to salvage enough of the strawberries I picked to make fresh red berry granita. Granita is an easy way to make a frozen treat in the summertime: all you need is fresh berries, simple syrup and a good freezer! It really has a great intense berry flavor, and you can easily play around with additional flavors to complement the fruit. I love the subtle tones of the basil leaves in this particular recipe I've developed, but it's also delicious with a little sweet balsamic vinegar, or some fresh mint.

I love these recipes that you can make in advance, that can be made with very little ingredients but really showcase the freshness of the produce you use. What has been your favorite dessert recipes this summer?

Red Berry and Basil Granita
Recipe (serves 4)
1/4 cup of sugar
1/4 cup of water
2 cups of strawberries
2 cups of raspberries
1 teaspoon of lemon juice
10 basil leaves

In a small saucepan on medium heat, add the sugar and water. Once the sugar has completely dissolved, remove from the heat and let the simple syrup cool.

In a blender, add the fruit, basil, lemon juice and simple syrup. Blend until just smooth. Pour the mixture in a shallow pan, cover with plastic wrap (the plastic wrap should touch the top of the berry mixture to avoid water condensation). After about an hour, scrape the mixture using a fork to form crystals. Make sure to scrape the entire mixture. Scrape again before serving, and garnish with basil leaves. Enjoy!

Strawberry Tarts

Growing up, my parents' family house in the South of France had a small fruit and vegetable patch where I would escape to in the summer to pick and taste that summer's berries. A couple days ago I rediscovered the pleasure of berry picking by visiting a little farm outside of Montreal. Seeing the farmers work the land brings up an array of questions surrounding what we choose to put on our tables everyday. I always catch myself when I'm at the butcher's looking at the neatly packed meat and pushing away the thought that the meat was once part of a living animal. In an effort to better understand where our food comes from, I've made the necessary effort to confront the facts about the origins of our food. Even piking strawberries for a couple hours in the afternoon, in the middle of a farmed field, gets you thinking about the journey from the farm to the table.. and isn't it always better when that trip is as close as can be?

Picking your own vegetables or fruit from a trusted farm also gets you thinking about what we've been fed (pun intended!) to think about food. Tomatoes in the supermarket are generally perfectly round, uniformly red and as shiny as can be. Sure, this may fit our idea of what healthy, nutritious produce should look like, but it's really not how nature intended it. Fruit and vegetables should not be perfect, they should have little bumps and imperfections and come in different shapes and sizes. I had fun picking out all the different kinds of strawberries I could find. The strawberries I used for the tart were all very petite (about the size of raspberries) which worked out well for individual tartelettes. I am planning on making a mixed berry granita with the rest.. although I must admit that at the rate we've been munching on them, I'm not sure I will be able to do so!

Recipe
See here for my tart dough recipe (I added a tablespoon of cocoa powder to my paste sucree recipe this time), and my pastry cream recipe. At cooking school, we used to finish off all fruit tarts by glazing them with an apricot glaze. You can do the same at home by melting down apricot jam in a small saucepan with a couple tablespoons of water, and gently brushing the mixture on top of the fruit. Enjoy!

Chicken Noodle Soup

It hasn't been a very fun couple of days at the Jenn household. I went for a run on Sunday morning and could feel that something wasn't quite right. My legs were helping me through, but my body wasn't quite in sync. Sure enough, a couple hours later I was under my blanket, feeling.. well, not so well. When I was a kid, I used to describe bad sore throats by picturing little bite-size men playing around my throat with sharp little swords. That image popped back into my head this weekend as I was sipping tea and trying to make the pain go away.

So... today I surrendered to my momentary illness, stayed in bed for most of the day until Oliver and I decided to use this as the perfect opportunity to make chicken noodle soup. It was pouring rain, gray and felt more like December than June anyway so this ended up turning an otherwise gloomy day into a fun-filled culinary adventure. I called this a chicken noodle soup, but I used a lot of the elements of an Italian wedding soup (egg, Parmesan and greens) and ended up with a wonderful medley of flavors. Oliver biked to the nearest butcher and was able to get homemade chicken stock (which we were out of) which made the broth that much more flavorful. All and all, this turned my pain-filled day into a day full of love and comfort food.

Chicken Noodle Soup (serves 4)
2 chicken breasts
2 bay leaves
2 shallots, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, finely diced
1 carrot, finely diced
2 scallions, finely sliced
2 cups of chicken stock
2 handfuls of egg noodles
1 small handful of fresh spinach
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons of freshly grated Parmesan, plus extra for serving
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Extra virgin olive oil

Bring water to a boil in a small saucepan, and add the 2 bay leaves. Add the chicken.

In a separate saucepan on medium low heat, add a good drizzle of olive oil. Add the shallots, garlic and carrots. Cook for 2-3 minutes, or until softened. Add the scallions and chicken stock. Bring the chicken stock to a boil and add the noodles. Cook according to package instructions.

Once the chicken is poached, remove from the water, and shred using a fork (discard the bay leaves). Season with salt and pepper and add to the chicken broth (about 2 minutes before the noodles are cooked). Add the spinach, the beaten egg and stir until the egg is cooked (about 1 minute). Add the Parmesan. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Serve with crusty bread, a drizzle of olive oil and a little extra Parmesan. Enjoy!

Bakewell Tartelettes

The June Daring Bakers‘ challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart… er… pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800’s in England.

When I first read about this month's challenge, I didn't really know what to expect. I had never tasted a Bakewell tart, and am not usually a fan of jam-based desserts. However, I was enthusiastic at the prospect of trying something new and got a glass jar of Italian strawberry jam (which turned out to be extraordinary)to get my imagination going. I actually ended up sticking to the recipe pretty closely, and loved using the jam as a base layer.

Growing up eating "galette des rois" every year, I knew that any chance to make a frangipane should be taken. I love the taste of this flavorful ground almond mixture, and it's so easy to make. They were a lovely addition to the strawberry jam. I opted for making small tartelettes, which were fun to fill and watch puff up in the oven. The result were adorable little baked treats, albeit a little sweet for my taste.

Cold Soba Noodle Salad with Red Peppers, Peas and Scallions

A nice cold noodle salad ranks pretty high on my list of perfect summer food. It's an easy salad to put together, and it can be prepared several hours before serving. I've been pretty busy lately with several projects and in those times the go-to meals are always the ones I turn to. This salad is versatile (you could use different peppers, mango, slithers of cucumber or grilled chicken if you don't have red pepper or peas) and you could also serve it warm. I served it with a medium rare sliced steak which made for a really nice meal.

For me, summer is all about traveling and eating great food with great company. With those ideals in mind, I am headed to San Francisco very soon. San Francisco would probably be the one place on the West Coast that I could picture myself living in. Being quite fair skinned and not the best camper when it's really warm, San Francisco was the perfect choice for a birthday celebration trip. I will be making the - in my opinion mandatory - trip to Alice Walters' Chez Panisse and have a list of restaurants, bakeries and taco joints I can't wait to try out. Life is good!

Cold Soba Noodle Salad with Red Peppers, Peas and Scallions
Recipe (serves 4)

2 teaspoons of low sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons of rice wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon of sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon of fish sauce
Buckweat soba noodles for 4
1/2 cup of cooked peas
1 small red pepper, finely diced
2 large scallions, finely minced
1 tablespoon of toasted sesame seeds
Canola oil

In a small bowl, whisk the soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil and fish sauce. Reserve.

Cook the noodles according to package instructions. Drain, and lightly drizzle with some canola oil to prevent the noodles from sticking. Reserve and let cool.

Transfer the cold noodles to your serving bowl. Add the diced red peppers, scallions, peas and sesame seeds. Dress with the soy marinade and stir. Serve cold or at room temperature. Enjoy!